Arsenal boss Emery hints at Pepe start against Liverpool

Unai Emery suggested he is ready to hand record signing Nicolas Pepe a first Arsenal start in Saturday's Premier League clash with Liverpool.

The Ivory Coast forward arrived in a deal that could reach a reported €72million from Lille in the close season but has been limited to substitute appearances in wins over Newcastle United and Burnley.

Gunners boss Emery has been reluctant to thrust the 24-year-old into action due to a lack of pre-season preparation at Arsenal.

But Emery hinted a more prominent role is possible for Pepe against Liverpool as the only two teams with 100 per cent records in the Premier League face each other at Anfield.

"The most important thing is, like a person, to help him and his family to feel comfortable here. Now he is three weeks into working here with us," Emery said of Pepe.

"He didn't do the pre-season here but he's progressively feeling better. For example, in the first match, he played 15 minutes in Newcastle, then he played 45 minutes against Burnley.

"I think his individual performances are progressively getting better. For Saturday, he is maybe ready to have more minutes.

"I am going to decide tomorrow, but really his progress has been positive and has been good for the team and for him.

"The most important piece of the adaptation is to help him to feel easy and be comfortable with us."

Emery, who will also make a decision on Friday over the availability of Mesut Ozil (illness) and Granit Xhaka (leg), has led Arsenal to two opening league wins for the first time in a decade.

But in Arsenal's last visit to Anfield they were ransacked 5-1 by Jurgen Klopp's men and Emery says the test against the Reds is an opportunity for his side to show their quality.

"Each match is a big challenge and each match is for us to prepare best as possible. The idea is to continue creating in our way and style," he added.

"We need to be strong and also we can recover some players to be fit. I think we are closer to achieving everyone being ready to play, but we need some more time.

"For Saturday, we are in good spirits and our players are ready to play with big ambition to do something important.

"It's a big stadium with a big atmosphere and I want to play every match in our amazing stadium with our amazing supporters in our home.

"It's going to be a different game to Burnley because the team is different. They are going to demand different tactical issues, but we want to play and show how we are now.

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Last term he found the net 21 times and he has started the new campaign in solid fashion as well, scoring four goals in as many games, including a brace in Saturday's 3-2 win over Levante.

The Lyon academy product has seemingly established himself as one of the world's elite strikers once again and Varane looks up to him for having such a prolonged career at the top.

Speaking ahead of the release of his Amazon Prime documentary, Varane said: "We [Varane and Benzema] have a good relationship. When I arrived in Madrid, there were two Frenchmen, him and Lassana Diarra.

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The 27-year-old suffered the injury in the warm-up before Bayern's 1-1 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday.

Jerome Boateng replaced him in the starting XI, with Lucas Hernandez moving to the left side of defence.

Bayern did not confirm a timeline for Alaba's return but head coach Niko Kovac will have to weigh up his options for Wednesday's home clash against Red Star Belgrade.

"Bayern will be without David Alaba for a spell after the Austria international tore a muscle in his left thigh while warming up for Saturday's top Bundesliga match away to RB Leipzig," the club confirmed in a statement.

Linked to Barcelona during the close season, Alaba started each of Bayern's opening three Bundesliga fixtures and scored in the 6-1 thrashing of Mainz last month.